'Annoying' Georgia fight song played too much for Barrett Carter's liking

Barrett Carter believes the Tigers will be ready for the opener with No. 1 Georgia.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Wednesday, August 21 2024

CLEMSON – Linebacker Barrett Carter is a native of Suwanee, Georgia, which sits about an hour away from Athens, home of the Georgia Bulldogs. He’s heard the Georgia fight song his entire life, but Tuesday’s repetition of “Glory, Glory” only served to make him angry.

Clemson faces Georgia in the season opener in Atlanta in just ten days (Noon, ABC), and the Tigers turned their attention to the Bulldogs this week, closing out August camp and beginning game preparations. During Tuesday’s practice, the strains of the Georgia fight song echoed across the practice field and part of the practice.

Why? Head coach Dabo Swinney expects his Tigers will hear that fight song – and plenty of other things – from the Georgia side of the field and wants to get his players ready for the environment.

Carter laughed when he was asked about the fight song.

“Definitely a little bit of PTSD. No, it was good,” Carter said. “I think it’s going to be good for us just to get the idea in our head, just because that is something that they do over there, but it shouldn’t have an effect on how we play. The field's always going to be the same size, we're playing with the same football, and we're going to be running the same plays. So, I mean all the external factors, whatever, it doesn't really matter. Just excited to get back playing and excited that game day is so close to us.”

Carter then detailed when the “annoying” music began to play.

“It was during our special teams, so I don't know why they did it, but yeah, it was during our special teams period,” Carter said. “It was kind of pissing me off, but I was just locked in, just ready for practice. But no, it was annoying.”

Carter has plenty of friends who will suit up for the Bulldogs, but smack talk between the sides has been kept to a minimum.

“It has been pretty chill from both sides. I know a lot of guys on that team, but it has been pretty chill,” Carter said. “Nor really not much banter, not much trash talk. We're both just trying to handle business on our end, and the best man will come out on top on the 31st.”

The Tigers are the heaviest an underdog (+13.5) since 2012 at Florida State (+14.5), and the notion nationally is that the Bulldogs will dispatch the Tigers with relative ease. Carter doesn’t buy into the hype and says the Tigers can pull off the upset.

“A hundred percent. We've had a great offseason, great camp, and we have the dudes in the locker room to compete with anybody in the country,” Carter said. “And obviously Georgia, they've been the top team in the country the past couple of years. So, until someone beats the best, they're going to be proclaimed the best. So, I'm excited to see how we match up as a team, but I know that we have a special group of guys in the locker room who have bought into the process and bought into our scheme and what we must bring. I'm just excited to see how we compete with them.”